ABSALOM –
Biblical Data: Third son of King David, born in Hebron in the early years of that king's reign. His mother, Maachah, was the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (II Sam. iii. 3; II Sam. xiii. 37; I Chron. iii. 2).Absalom appears...

ABSALOM'S TOMB –
A tomb twenty feet high and twenty-four feet square, which late tradition points out as the resting-place of Absalom. It is situated in the eastern part of the valley of Kidron, to the east of Jerusalem. In all probability it is...

ABSALOM –
One of the five sons of John Hyrcanus, who was thrown into prison withhis mother and two of his brothers when Judas Aristobulus ascended the Hasmonean throne (105 B.C.). However, after a year's suffering, the king's death...

ABSALOM THE ELDER –
A Tanna, the dates of whose birth and death are unknown. A homiletic interpretation of Ex. xiv. 15 is recorded in his name in the Mekilta, Beshallaḥ, 3. There is no certainty about his name, for in a parallel passage (Ex. R....

ABSBAN, SOLOMON –
Rabbi of Aleppo about 1580; was a grandson of Jacob Berab. He was highly esteemed for his learning, prudence, sagacity, and piety by contemporary scholars, such as Moses Alsheik, Samuel Laniado, and others, with whom he...

ABSOLUTE, THE –
A philosophic term indicating a being or substance free from contingency and external determination. It is defined by the philosophers in various ways. Spinoza defines it as the causa sui, the cause of itself; Kant as the Ding...

ABSTINENCE –
Refraining from enjoyments which are lawful in themselves. Abstinence can be considered a virtue only when it serves the purpose of consecrating a life to a higher purpose. The saints, or adherents of religious and philosophical...

ABTALION, POLLION –
A leader of the Pharisees in the middle of the first century B.C. and by tradition vice-president of the great Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. He was of heathen descent (Bab. Yoma, 71b; 'Eduy. v. 6; Giṭ. 57b; Yer. M. Ḳ. iii. 81b; see...

ABTALION (OTTAVIANO), SON OF MORDECAI (MARCO) OF MODENA –
Italian Hebrew scholar; born in Modena in 1529; died in Ferrara in 1611. From the fact that Azariah dei Rossi in his "Meor 'Enayim," p. 98b, refers to him as ("a man of Modena"), it is assumed that he was a native of that city....

ABTALION BEN SOLOMON –
Italian rabbi; born at Consiglio about 1540; died Oct. 26, 1616. He was a pupil of Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen, rabbi of Padua. His veneration for his teacher was so great that he had his portrait painted and hung in his...

ABTERODE (APTROD), DAVID –
Rabbinical writer; great-grandfather of David Sinzheim; probably born at Abterode near Frankfort-on-the-Main, in which town he lived toward the end of the seventeenth and at the beginning of the eighteenth century. He wrote...

ABU –
Arabic word meaning "father." With its different cases aba (accusative) and abi (genitive), as well as its abbreviated form bu, it is frequently used in Arabic as the first element in certain compound names. The relation between...

ABU ABDALLAH MOHAMMED ALNASIR –
Almohade sultan; ruler of Morocco and southern Spain at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The rule of the Almohade sultans necessarily proved oppressive to the Jews under their sway. They had to choose between conversion...